Why do a lot of filmmakers seem to hate deep focus cinematography?

[Brian Drysdale]

You have to locate your story in a place where that type of stuff happens.

[Ryan Elder]

Well for budget sake I can still have it be in a modern North American city. I can just have it so that the villains arrest them then, if that's better. I just thought it wouldn't be as unique then. What about a movie like The Fugitive, where something similar happened?

In that movie, the police think that the main character killed a cop, and then the Tommy Lee Jones character makes remarks about how the police will shoot him on site now. If this is fake, and the police would not do anything like this to someone for killing a cop, then why did they write it that way?

[Brian Drysdale]

"The Fugitive" isn't set in a police station..

Police do lots of things they shouldn't and films have things aren't the same as in real life and US culture has s dead or alive element to it, Lots of American movies have cops shooting down crowded streets after escaping cars without, seemingly, any collateral damage.

As I mentioned look at "LA Confidential", you need to set up a city with corrupt officials and corrupt cops.

You should do more research on your subject to find a place that has a reputation, here's starting points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...and_Maher_Arar

You need to set up a world where bad things happen, the US has more of a reputation for these kinds of events, so if you're set in Canada you'll need to spend more time on setting this up.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

...What about a movie like The Fugitive, where something similar happened?

In that movie, the police think that the main character killed a cop, and then the Tommy Lee Jones character makes remarks about how the police will shoot him on site now. If this is fake, and the police would not do anything like this to someone for killing a cop, then why did they write it that way?

If I remember, The Fugitive takes us on a long, long chase where Jones' character undergoes a gradual evolution born of days/weeks/months of frustration while cut off from his usual supports. And, anything can and does happen in the wild places - we know this, it's a trope we've seen before, that when people are off the leash in the wilderness some life and death stuff is much more immediate. And, after all, they never do kill the doctor. I may be misremembering this.

But, the point is, characters should, no, they must be seen as taking credible actions. For example, in your arc the cops can never credibly form a lynch mob, but, the cop we know as a hothead, who's been drinking, who's wife/girlfriend left him, who's broken up over the death of his kids... could go way too far in dealing with a suspect who dies. Cops who sympathize with him might cover it up - hey, we all know John is a good guy and the suspect was a sleazeball, right?

Otherwise, if you must maintain the setting in a north american city, you'd need to develop a different culture that occupies it, that is, you'd need to create a credible dystopia, which is much much harder.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but as far as character development goes in The Fugitive, when Gerard comments about how the Chicago PD will shoot him on site, now that they think he's a cop killer, the Chicago PD were not even main characters, that were not developed very much though.

So how do you write it like that, where you want to push supporting characters over the edge like that, without having to develop them much? As for the The Fugitive not being set in a police station, what's a police station have to do with it? The cops would still have to leave the station to go kill the suspects, just like in The Fugitive, so that doesn't make much of a difference, does it, since in my story, the cops leave the station to go get the suspects as well?

As for the Canadian setting, I could set it in a U.S. setting, if that's better then?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

As a neutral observer it sounds like a terrible B movie thriller. It’s fine if you’re doing it as a fun project with your buddies. But I wouldn’t have any aspirations this will lead to anything career wise.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, what about it sounds like a terrible B movie? Perhaps I can work on that, or keep that in mind.

[Josh Bass]

Unfortunately, probably everything...the rape gang, the revenge, the cop thing, etc.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. Well I didn't think it was a B movie in it's tone, since B movies have a certain tone to them, that I didn't think my script was going for.

[Josh Bass]

I suspect by B movie they dont mean the definition youre thinking of, but more one of those dime a dozen direct-to-streaming crime thrillers.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well I don't feel that it is, or at least that is not my intention. I tried to make it more unique compared to what I've seen before. I've never seen a group of police get manipulated into revenge on a group of rapists in a movie before, for example.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

I suspect by B movie they dont mean the definition youre thinking of, but more one of those dime a dozen direct-to-streaming crime thrillers.

Yeah that’s it.

It is what it is. Whether you realize it or not. At the end of the day you should be strong enough to listen to what others think but you should also do it if you have strong convictions.

[Brian Drysdale]

Your basic premise is flawed, the cops have to deal with unsavory people of all sorts, but they don't take revenge on them and are unlikely to be manipulated into it, since they've got a justice system to do that for them.

There are lots of cases of police, perhaps more so in the past, but it still happens, believing their gut instinct (or just ambition) that someone is guilty and using a forced confession or other methods to get a conviction. That is more likely than a lynch mob in the police station, stuff like that will tend to happen out in the city, where a cover story can be created.

There's also films where cops take the law into their own hands e.g. the traffic cops in "Magnum Force".

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah Magnum Force is a good example, couldn't a few police be pushed into something like that?

Also, why wouldn't they do it out in the city, where a cover story would be created? Wouldn't they?

Another movie I can think of is City By The Sea. In that movie, a cop's son is framed for the murder of another police officer, and his ex wife (the son's mother) tells him, to get to his son first before the other police do, cause she knows the other police will kill him for she says.

But if it's not true, and the police do not do that, then why would a mother worry about her son being killed by them in that case, if the police do not do that?

[Brian Drysdale]

You're taking a simplistic view of these things. I Haven't seen "City By The Sea" but looking at the Wiki plot there's family connections involving saving an estranged son etc. ( It deals with the family problems of a wayward youth and is set against a man trying to break free of his past.) In your case, you seem to have come up with a plot that's seemingly not driven by the characters, which probably why you're getting the not knowing what they're thinking feedback.